


A Dance at Winter's End

by beautifulterriblequeen



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: DPO told me who's taller and I was inspired to write this whole fic to show it, Domestic Fluff, Kisses, M/M, Soft elf husbands, Spring Cleaning, Sweet, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:00:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22389826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beautifulterriblequeen/pseuds/beautifulterriblequeen
Summary: Winter's End has come, and the Silvergrove will soon be free of snow and ice. Runaan's assassin duties are on hold while the ritual pool is frozen, but before he heads out on missions again, Ethari recruits him for a day of spring cleaning and soft kisses. Pure domestic fluff, with the canon reveal of which husband is taller at the end.
Relationships: Ethari/Runaan (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 115





	A Dance at Winter's End

“Runaan, it’s Winter’s End today. And you promised you’d help me around the house. Remember?”

Runaan’s thick lashes fluttered open to see a pair of bright sunset eyes staring down at him. He blinked sleepily at his husband. “That’s today already?”

“It sure is!” Ethari’s chipper response couldn’t help but bring a smile to Runaan’s lips. “Up you get, lazybones. I’ve got breakfast ready for you and everything.”

Runaan eased a sigh through his nose and reached for the warm, heavy covers. “Of course you do.” He threw back the blankets and sat up, dangling his long legs off the edge of the bed and stretching his arms over his head until his shoulders popped. His thick night braid rested heavy and warm against his back. “I suppose I did promise—”

A clean shirt smacked him in the chest, interrupting him. It was swiftly followed by a pair of pants that came unfolded in midair. One long pant leg draped across his left horn and covered half his face. Runaan paused his stretch, arms still overhead, and raised an eyebrow. “In a hurry, are we?”

Ethari padded back across the room from the wardrobe and cupped his jaw with one hand. His other freed Runaan’s horn from the soft attack of the pant leg. “No hurry, except to spend time with you today, my heart.”

Runaan’s mock stern expression melted into a soft smile. He rested his hands on Ethari’s hips and lifted his chin, offering a kiss for the claiming. Ethari cupped Runaan’s face and bent down to accept it. When Runaan hummed in delight, Ethari pulled him up from the bed and onto his feet. Then he stepped back, breaking the kiss and backing toward the door with a saucy grin.

Runaan made a low whine as he hopped on one foot and pulled on a pant leg. “I wasn’t done kissing you yet,” he complained.

Ethari’s light laughter echoed off the curving steps of the grand stairwell that wound through the tree house as he headed down out of sight down for breakfast. “Then I know exactly how to motivate you today, don’t I?”

Runaan grinned after him fondly and reached for his shirt. “You always do.”

***

“There you go.” Ethari’s fingers settled Runaan’s hair cuff below his braid. His hands found Runaan’s shoulders, and he pressed a kiss to the top of his husband’s head, right between his horns.

“I guess we can start now that I look proper,” Runaan said.

“And I have just the tool you need.” Ethari held out a screwdriver with a star-shaped end.

Runaan took it. “I’ll need a boost.”

Ethari grinned and waggled his eyebrows.

Five minutes later, Runaan was standing on Ethari’s shoulders and adjusting the screws that attached a slender branch to the high wall of his training room so it was more secure. Meanwhile, Ethari lightly teased Runaan’s calves with his fingers. “I hope you’re able to concentrate, Runaan. I’d hate to distract you.”

“I’m not distracted,” Runaan replied.

Ethari inched his fingers higher and pressed harder. “How about now?”

Runaan kept his eyes on his work, tightening the screws with firm twists. “Nope.”

With a click of his tongue, Ethari walked his fingers up just past Runaan’s knees. “I should’ve known better than to try to distract you in your training room. This is where you concentrate on—”

Runaan pressed hard against Ethari’s shoulders and leaped, twisting sharply in midair until his knees caught the slender branch he’d been repairing. He swung down underneath it, his ponytail flying. His hands captured Ethari’s face, just below his own. Ethari gasped in surprised delight, and his upturned lips met Runaan’s.

“On what’s important,” Runaan finished. He brushed his nose against Ethari’s and smiled at him upside-down.

***

“Is it really Winter’s End,” Ethari said under his breath, “if there’s still snow on my steps?” His broom brushed one last step free of snow, sending it spiraling down to land next to the ritual pool below.

“ _Your_ steps?” Runaan asked. “I’m the one dangling underneath them to put this growth charm in place.” He fastened the last toggle on his winter coat and shivered, and a puff of white breath escaped his lips.

“That’s only because I can’t reach it from up here,” Ethari said. He leaned his broom against the tree and pulled a meter-long coil of pliant blue tree bark marked with silver runes from a pocket of his thick coat. “Are you sure you want to—”

Runaan plucked the curling bit of rune-laden bark from Ethari’s hand and stepped backward off the tree house steps. He caught himself on the narrow end of the stair with one hand, wrapped the rune bark around his horn for safekeeping, and shifted his fingers along the long edge of the step, scooting closer to the ancient tree’s rough surface as he dangled below the curve of the staircase.

Ethari crouched and peered through the gap in the steps. “Do you see the crack? Just there, by your shoulder.” He pointed to a new split in the tree’s bark, exposing it to the elements and threatening the stability of the step above it.

Runaan noted the split. He reached up and unwrapped the curling bark from his horn. While he hung from the fingers of one hand, he thumbed the thin strip of rune-decorated bark into the fresh crack in the tree. His fingers eased it into the tiny gap until the soft bark filled it from one end to the other. Its runes glowed brightly, and the tree sealed itself again, growing new fibers to fill the crack.

Ethari stepped out to the end of the stair, and Runaan made his way over to join him from below. His bare fingers gripped the stair past the side of Ethari’s boots, then they clung just past his toes.

“Do you want a hand up?” Ethari offered, holding out a gloved palm.

“Where’s my prize?” Runaan countered.

With a chuckle, Ethari dropped to his knees at the end of the step. Runaan pulled himself up just high enough for a brisk kiss. Their lips met and warmed together until Runaan broke the kiss and murmured, “I can’t feel my fingers anymore, so you’d better pick me up before I fall.”

Ethari reached down over the edge of the open staircase and enclosed Runaan’s shoulders in a massive hug. “Mmm, you always know what to say to get yourself into my arms,” he said as he straightened, bodily lifting Runaan up onto the step with him. “So romantic.”

***

“No, not that chest.” Ethari slapped a hand on top of a dusty box Runaan was about to open in the attic, and a cloud of dust rose from around his palm.

Runaan raised an eyebrow at him. “This is full of Rayla’s things, isn’t it? Her moonberry handprints, that moon-awful hedgehog—”

“I love that hedgehog. I’m keeping them, and you can’t stop me.”

“You say that every year.”

“Because it’s true every year,” Ethari said defensively. “Don’t make me sit on you. I’m keeping this chest until I die.”

At that, Runaan chuckled. “So you plan to have your spirit give it away? Or will you leave that to me?” His fingers teased toward the chest’s front handle.

Ethari scooted over and sat atop the chest. He leaned forward, nose to nose with Runaan. “I’ll take it into the veil with me, see if I don’t.”

Runaan’s eyebrows raised briefly with his smile. “There you go, insisting again that I should outlive you.” He said no more on the unlikelihood of such a thing, letting Ethari have his illusions. “But I’ll let you keep your box of keepsakes, since I’m getting rid of so much of my own stuff.”

Ethari’s expression softened into a gentle smile. “You say that every year.”

Runaan’s smile held. “Because it’s true every year.”

“You’re so nice to m— _achoo_!” Ethari’s dust-laden sneeze knocked him off the chest, and he landed on the attic floor with a big thud, a sharp crack, and a clatter of horns.

Runaan scrambled over the chest and knelt over Ethari in concern. He slipped his hand into Ethari’s. “Are you all right?”

Ethari’s free hand patted at his chest while he coughed. “I think I broke something.”

Runaan’s turquoise eyes shifted to study Ethari’s horns. He reached up to feel one of them for cracks, but Ethari captured it and kissed his palm.

“No, not there.” He arched to the side and reached behind his back, sliding out a snack plate he’d been munching from. With a somber expression, he held up a fractured carrot, nearly snapped in half. “Awww.”

Runaan surged down and kissed him hard. Ethari dropped the carrot and slid his arms around Runaan’s neck. “You fool,” Runaan breathed, when he finally came up for air. “Don’t… don’t do that.”

Ethari chuckled against Runaan’s lips. “I thought it was a _cracking_ good prank.”

“I— _Ethari_.”

“I know you don’t _carrot all_ about puns, my shade, but— _mmmph_!” The rest of Ethari’s words were lost in Runaan’s kiss and never made it off his tongue. Ethari’s arms tightened around Runaan’s neck, and he let his husband shut him up about puns for a good long while.

***

“Is that the last one?” Ethari’s gaze tracked Runaan as the assassin hopped among the lower branches of the tree on his way back down, rather than watching the dead, freefalling branch Runaan had just sawed off. It landed in the snow with a soft rustle, joining the other branches Runaan had removed to keep their tree healthy when its new growth came in.

Runaan landed softly beside Ethari on the highest step and held out the short saw Ethari had given him. The day had warmed since earlier, and the sounds of melting snow dripped from the trees all around them. “That should do it. Trade?”

Ethari offered his steaming mug of tea in exchange for the tool. Its handle was cold, but he enjoyed watching Runaan take that first big hot gulp of tea. His husband’s bright eyes slid shut and he sipped noisily through a small smile.

“Better?” Ethari asked.

“Mmmm. What’s next?”

“The pool’s obelisk needs a bit of elbow grease. I spotted a smidge of oxidization trying to creep in on top.”

“I’ll hop up, then. What do I need?”

Ethari fished in his coat pockets for a jar of cream and a polishing cloth and held them up with a winning smile. The elves walked down the stairs to the pool in step, and Runaan finished Ethari’s tea, warming his hands on the mug the whole way. At the lip of the pool, Ethari set the empty mug down by his saw. Runaan hopped up and stepped onto the Moonstrider-shaped obelisk support, balancing on its back. Ethari stood below him on the pool’s stone lip and offered him the cloth. Then he held the little jar up on his fingertips, and Runaan dipped the cloth into it.

Balancing carefully, Runaan reached up for the obelisk’s upper horns and rubbed them down with the cloth. “The pool will be free of ice by the next full Moon. Time to go back to work.”

Ethari watched Runaan’s hands at work and smiled. “It’s been nice having you home this long.”

Runaan smiled down at him. “It’s been nice to _be_ home this long.” He handed Ethari the cloth, and the craftsman gave him a soft brush in return. Runaan applied it to the cream, scrubbing gently at the curving horns atop the obelisk. “Winter isn’t just my favorite season because of the long nights and the extra moonlight. I love curling up and hibernating here at home with you.”

Ethari laughed, and his voice rang around the little hollow like crystalline moonshine. “Hibernating, hardly. You’re out and about all day, every day. Village business this, training arena repair that. That’s why I had to make an appointment with my own husband to clean up a bit around the house. He’s had a ridiculously busy schedule all winter long.” Ethari’s expression turned mischievous, and he opened his mouth to speak.

Runaan pointed at him with the brush, and his eyes flashed with mock challenge. “I know that look. That’s the pun appreciation look. How about _no_.”

But Ethari’s shoulders were already shaking with laughter. “I’m glad you could _fit me in_ ,” he wheezed.

“Moon’s sake,” Runaan grumped. But a smile played around his mouth. “Alright, I’m done up here. Take this brush from me before I smack you with it as you richly deserve.”

Ethari’s eyes twinkled like knurled copper as he reached up for the brush. “Maybe I’ll smack you instead.”

“You can try—” Just then, Runaan’s foot hit a patch of ice on the statue’s back, and he slipped sideways toward the pool. Ethari’s hand shot out and grabbed Runaan’s so he didn’t land on his back atop the ice. Runaan pivoted smoothly, using Ethari’s grip as a fulcrum, but he couldn’t quite make it back to the lip of the pool.

His feet crunched through the ice, and he landed knee deep in the frozen pool, still holding Ethari’s hand. He studied his feet, then looked up at his husband with a light flush across his cheeks. “No one saw that.”

Wide-eyed, Ethari nodded. “ _I_ didn’t even see that.”

Runaan’s shoulders slumped with embarrassment and relief. “I deserve this for teasing you.”

“Pretty sure _I_ was teasing _you_ , Runaan—” Ethari began.

The icy chill of the pool started Runaan’s teeth chattering. “No, no,” he insisted. “I accept my pun-ishment.”

Ethari’s gasp was comically loud, and his grin was as wide as the Silvergrove. He bent down, took Runaan’s face in his hands, and pressed a fervent kiss against his husband’s chilled lips. “You’re the best husband in the whole forest,” he murmured. “Now, get out of that pool before you freeze into it.” Ethari gave Runaan a hand up to the pool’s lip, flexing hard to take his weight. “Let’s get you warmed up. I think we’re done for the day, anyway.”

***

Ethari knelt beside Runaan’s chair and added more hot water to the big tub where his husband’s bare feet were warming. Their coats and shoes lay in a pile by the front door, and Runaan clutched a blanket around his shoulders. “How’s that?” Ethari asked. “Too hot?”

Runaan shook his head and sipped from the giant mug Ethari had filled with hearty soup. “Perfect. Just like your soup.”

Ethari sat beside Runaan’s chair and leaned his cheek against Runaan’s leg, looking up at him. “I’m glad we had today together. I’ll miss you when you’re gone.”

Runaan smoothed a hand across Ethari’s hair, brushing it out of his eyes with his thumb. “I’m here now.”

Ethari sighed happily. “Let me know when you’re warm enough. I want to dance with you.”

Runaan’s eyebrows rose with the corners of his mouth. “I’m suddenly very warm.”

“You sure?”

“Mmmm,” Runaan said through the last mouthful of his soup. He held the big mug with one hand and extended the other to Ethari.

Ethari sprang to his feet and pulled Runaan up from his chair. He took the mug from Runaan’s fingers, set it on the chair, and captured Runaan’s hands with his own. “Wedding dance?”

Runaan’s eyes glowed. “Wedding dance.”

Ethari held out his palm, and Runaan matched it. Together, they trod the familiar steps of their first dance as a married couple, turning and spinning, parting and joining. Ethari spun Runaan into his arms and held him close as the dance ended, and their eyes lingered as they caught their breath together.

“Come up here and kiss me,” Ethari breathed.

With a chuckle, Runaan shifted to stand atop Ethari’s bare feet with his own, bringing their lips into perfect alignment. Their kiss was slow and soft, and Runaan and Ethari swayed from foot to foot, turning in the middle of the room, dancing through the kiss.

Runaan wrapped Ethari in a tight hug and buried his face in the side of his husband’s neck. “You’re my home, Ethari. Warm and comfortable and built to last.” He gave those powerful shoulders an extra firm squeeze.

Quiet laughter burst from Ethari as he snugged Runaan tightly within the circle of his arms. “My love for you is definitely built to last, my heart. Whether you’re away for a day, a season, or until the next winter’s snows fall, I’ll always be waiting here for you.”

Runaan stepped down off of Ethari’s feet, then he leaned back up for another soft kiss. His hand stole into Ethari’s, and their fingers interlaced. “You don’t need to wait. I’m here now.”


End file.
